The Weekly Wrap: May 8, 2022

I have mixed feelings about the subscription business model that everything seems to be moving to these days. On the one hand, I like being able to actively choose the individual content I pay for. On the other hand, it gets expensive quickly.

For example, I pretty much replaced all my print magazine subscriptions with Substacks.  I love being able to pay authors directly but this is getting so pricey that I've decided to limit myself to just 5 subscriptions at a time. I want full access to many more, but I can't justify the cost.

That makes me think that I would happily pay $200 a year directly to Substack itself to avoid all the paywalls on their website...

But then - oh, look - we've reinvented cable.

This is my problem. Bundling generally keeps prices down but it dilutes the payments to the original creators. Direct payments are more rewarding to the creators BUT they get too expensive to allow me to support everyone I want to support.

So, in the end, what really is better for everyone? The individual subscription model or the bundle model?

What's your opinion on subscriptions and paywalls?

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• Ending Roe was always the plan. [Men Yell at Me]
• There's a hole in this church. [Atlas Obscura]
• You can now ask Google to stop using your personal data in search results. [NPR]
• Planned obsolescence uncovered in the quest to replace a washing machine. [The Deleted Scenes]
• Kids are tiny philosophers. [ParentData]
• How to store leafy greens. [Food Network]
• I now feel the need to try all of these breads. [CNN]

• A musical explanation of the GDP. [The Indicator]
• What strong emotions mean and how we process them. [Life Kit]
• When economic conditions are a breeding ground for unions. [The Daily]
• The psychology of money. [Hidden Brain]
• Pandemic data tracking in the the U.S. was just plain bad. [99% Invisible]
• Let us raise a glass! [Life Kit]

• I generally enjoy Roland Emmerich films. Sometimes, you just need an overly CGIed blockbuster in your life. When Moonfall came out, it immediately went on my watch list. Now, with an Emmerich film, you know what you're getting. You have to suspend disbelief in science and narrative storytelling if you're going to enjoy it. Sadly, Moonfall was not even a good popcorn flick. It was just plain bad. It was 2012 meets Independence Day meets middle school play. [Amazon Prime]
• One show I am happy got a reboot is Leverage. We recently started watching Leverage: Redemption and, while the actors are certainly older, it has the same whimsy and campy plotting as the original. This week, we watched one episode that centered around a small town librarian played by LeVar Burton. (Meep!) Aside from it showing our librarian having time to kick up his feet and read at the circulation desk (hahaha!), I adored this one. It spoke to the essence of the library and what libraries stand for - with a madcap spy adventure tacked on. AND THEN! The next episode was all about the dangers of influencer culture and search engine algorithms and there were no lies in the structural narrative [*deep inhale*] and it made me very happy and I want to use the set-up scene in a library instruction class. [Amazon Prime]

• Last Sunday afternoon, our building hosted a dessert extravaganza in the courtyard. Everyone was asked to make or bring a dessert of their choice. I opted to bake a lemon pound cake which has been sitting in my Evernote for years. It was a good if dense cake, but the error was on my end. First, I'm still learning our new oven. This cake helped me uncover some hot spots. Next, I overwhipped the batter in the final stage which caused one quarter of the cake to sink. I had to bake it 30 minutes extra to help cook that bit. On the upside, when you flip a bundt over and add a glaze, nobody notices. [Real Simple]
• I can't remember when I first tried Waldorf salad. It was ages and ages ago, but I know I've eaten it. A memory of tastiness stuck in my head. When this recipe for chickpea Waldorf salad landed in my inbox, I decided it would be a decent lunch meal prep. I was not wrong. It was crunchy and sweet and delicious. I served it with wheat thins instead of over spinach. I also skipped the parsley because I just could not be bothered. [The Kitchn]